Shane Ross (Independent)

That is even better. I acknowledge that for the first time, a Minister of State represents an improvement on the senior Minister. The matter I am raising is very relevant in light of this afternoon's Budget Statement. If the economy is to come out of recession, it will be led by exports. It is important for the Government to recognise the need to help exports and exporters in any way possible. That appears to be lacking in today's budget, specifically in the area of export credit insurance. Exporters need to be protected, particularly in the indigenous area. I am not attempting to look for protection, in the form of export credit insurance, for the multinationals that account for a large proportion of our export figures. They do not need it and it is not relevant for them. We need to encourage and give some sort of certainty to indigenous industries that need the sort of protection that is afforded to similar industries in other European countries. The Netherlands and France, for example, have provided this necessary protection, or similar protection, to exporters. If our exporters are to compete on a level playing field with those countries and others, it is imperative that export credit insurance be made available to them so they can export their produce with the kind of protection we are talking about.

I have not seen the Minister of State's reply. I am not aware of the complete contents of the report produced by KPMG, which was commissioned in August of this year to conduct a review of this area. It would be very helpful if he were to release its contents so we would know what has been decided. More importantly, the Minister of State should tell us what action he intends to take as a result of the review. Does he intend to sit on the review and do nothing about it?

Reviews are not really meant to be written to delay matters although they often have that effect. While I do not suggest this to be true in this case, they report what is expected of them, delay a decision and are a waste of money. This is because having been given instructions, reviewers often instinctively sense what Ministers, employers and paymasters want as a reply and they write to orders. While I do not necessarily suggest this is so in this case, it would be useful - I cannot understand the reason the Minister has not done so - to release this review to public attention and scrutiny and therefore to public debate. Indeed, it is unfortunate the senior Minister in this Department sat on another review in the case of FÁS, when it would have been better had she released it earlier rather than sitting on it until the last minute. Consequently, I ask for the release of this review so it can be debated.

The importance of the export industry lies in the incredible number of jobs it supports, particularly in the food and drink sectors. While it is difficult to be certain, approximately 50,000 people are employed in those sectors. Moreover, approximately 60,000 people are employed in the distribution sector and a great number of others are affected. For example, 120,000 farmers also are dependent on this industry. All these people need the kind of security that a small sum spent on export insurance would provide. I ask the Minister of State to regard this not as a matter for contemplation or review, but as a matter of urgency to help employment in the sectors, to assist the economy to recover and to provide the sort of confidence that is absolutely necessary at present.